February 2019

Oregon Secretary of State Dennis Richardson died Tuesday after a lengthy battle with brain cancer. He is being remembered as “a shining example of true public service, raising the bar for kindness and non-partisanship among his peers.”

Two years after a surprising – and controversial – rejection, Orange County, CA supervisors voted to transition to a vote center model aimed at improving the election experience and cutting costs. Public support and a successful track record elsewhere apparently swayed the board after a 2017 vote widely seen and criticized as partisan.

The South Dakota House recently passed a bill that would shorten absentee voting by two weeks – without any apparent complaint about the current window and with significant opposition from state and local election officials.

The latest electionlineWeekly features the first in a series of communications-related topics for election officials and other members of the community. The inaugural installment is “Comms 101”, a guest post by Denver’s Alton Dillard, who shares thoughts on the importance of transparency – and outreach! – when dealing with the media.

The Democracy Fund’s Adam Ambrogi has a new piece entitled “Tech is Not the Enemy” in the Carnegie Reporter about the role technology can and does play in improving the voting experience. It’s a fantastic read, calling on everyone (especially appropriators!) to recognize the role such technology plays in the voting process.

The election community’s long(!) wait for a fully-constituted EAC paid off yesterday with the announcement that the full Commission has unanimously voted to release Version 2.0 of the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines for public comment. It’s a welcome sign that the EAC is back to business shortly after being restored to full strength.

Plumas County in Northern California is in danger of running out of election funds after a series of special elections is stretching an already-reduced budget, the election office recently told the county board.

This week, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission announced the winners of its 2018 “Clearie” awards recognizing state and local election offices for best practices in election administration – and, as usual, electionlineWeekly’s Mindy Moretti has the story.

Today in Washington, DC the Bipartisan Policy Center – with support from the Democracy Fund – is hosting a conference entitled “The Voting Experience: 2018 and the Future” and focused on “key moments in election administration during the 2018 midterm elections, and a look ahead to what steps can be taken to improve the voting experience for all Americans in 2020.”

Minnesota’s legislature is still debating legislation to release millions of dollars in federal cybersecurity funding, despite the Secretary of State’s insistence that the delay will negatively affect preparations for the 2020 election and beyond.

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